BACOLOD CITY – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is keeping a close watch on the twin challenges confronting Negros Island’s sugar and blue swimming crab industries, according to Cabinet Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr.

Abalos, in a media interview during his visit to the province on Friday, July 31, said that Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. has been instructed to evaluate the situation and identify interventions to address the concerns.

"The President is on top of the situation," Abalos said, as he assured the people of Negros that the government is actively coordinating efforts to resolve both crises.

He said that his office will work with concerned agencies to ensure timely action for the benefit of affected farmers, fishers, and industry stakeholders in Negros. "To the people of Negros, asahan niyo po ito (expect action)," he stressed.

The provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental remain under a state of calamity following the widespread infestation of the Red-Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI), which has affected more than 28,000 hectares of sugarcane and impacted over 11,000 farmers in the Negros Island Region (NIR).

To curb the infestation, Negros Occidental is adopting biological control methods, while Negros Oriental has earmarked P15 million from its Quick Response Fund for the purchase of systemic insecticides.

Negros Occidental’s blue swimming crab industry continues to suffer from the suspension of exports to the United States, which took effect in June after the Philippines failed to comply with required fisheries monitoring and marine mammal conservation standards.

The Department of Agriculture is working with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to restore access to the US market, with Laurel saying the country hopes to resume exports before the end of the year.

Negros Occidental third district Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez, whose legislative district is the heart of the province's crab industry, home to E.B. Magalona, the blue crab capital of Negros Occidental, has thrown his support behind a proposed Negros Occidental Blue Swimming Crab Sustainability and Management Ordinance of 2026 that would strengthen sustainability measures for the blue swimming crab industry through improved harvest reporting, monitoring, and protection of berried crabs.

Benitez joined a recent public hearing related to the blue crab industry concern here, and expressed his commitment to pushing the country's reapplication to the US market in Congress, securing support for BFAR under the new region, and advocating reforms to the Fisheries Code. "When the crab industry hurts, my constituents hurt," the lawmaker said.